LA CHATRE, France -- Frenchman Cedric Vasseur emulated his father Alain's achievement of 27 years ago by winning a Tour de France stage on Thursday after a breakaway midway between Chanonnay and La Chatre.

But the 26-year old rider also went one better than his father by taking the race leader's yellow jersey off Mario Cipollini's shoulders at the end of the first successful breakaway in this Tour.

Vasseur, who now leads the Italian sprinter by two minutes, 17 seconds overall, also recaptured the leader's jersey for his GAN team, who held it after the victory of Briton Chris Boardman in the prologue.

"I thought about my father and near the finish, I knew I was doing even better by taking the leader's jersey," he said.

Alain Vasseur won a stage in Felsberg in 1970, also after a long solitary ride.

THE VICTORY REPRESENTED REVENGE for the GAN team, who have collected 25 second places this season, including one in the previous stage through Frederic Moncassin.

The 163-mile stage was also the first in four days without a serious crash, but saw the exit of Swiss Alex Zuelle, second in 1995 and among the pre-race favorites.

Having started the race just two weeks after surgery on a broken collarbone, the Once team leader did not turn up for the start of the fifth stage from Chantonnay and Chatre.

"Alex Zuelle, who has suffered a lot of incidents since the start of the Tour, does not want to take any more risks in order not to jeopardize the rest of his season. He is therefore a non-starter this morning," the Tour organizers announced.

ZUELLE WAS INVOLVED IN A FALL on Wednesday for the third successive stage this week. Although not injured, he was only 73rd overall, four minutes, 17 seconds behind leader Mario Cipollini of Italy.

The bespectacled 28-year-old winner of last year's Tour of Spain suffered two bad crashes last month in the Dauphine Libere in France in mid-June and the Tour of Switzerland a week later, when he broke his collarbone.

His fifth-place finish in Saturday's prologue time trial reassured his followers that he was in good shape, but between Monday and Wednesday he had the misfortune to be involved in mass pile-ups that have marred the early days of the Tour.

VETERAN COMPATRIOT TONY ROMINGER, leader of the French Cofidis team, crashed out of his last Tour on Tuesday when he suffered a double fracture of the right collarbone in a fall.

Spaniard Vicente Garcia-Acosta and Italy's Fabiano Fontanelli pulled out injured on Wednesday after several riders were involved in a crash when the Italian ran into a woman spectator who was also badly hurt.

Friday's sixth stage takes the riders from Le Blanc to the oyster port of Marennes over 135 miles.

The riders will reach the finish line along the Champs Elysees in Paris on July 27.

Overall leaders

Stage 5 results

Stages of the Tour de France

Rominger to undergo collarbone surgery in Switzerland

Cipollini has shorts for every occasion

Tour de France teams